San Diego philanthropist Audrey Geisel was so much more than Mrs. Seuss

Photo by Carol Woods for the Evening Tribune

Audrey and Ted Geisel at a dinner on May 14, 1986 honoring the author before the opening of the restrospective, "Dr. Seuss: From Then to Now" at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park.

Audrey and Ted Geisel at a dinner on May 14, 1986 honoring the author before the opening of the restrospective, "Dr. Seuss: From Then to Now" at the San Diego Museum of Art in Balboa Park. (Photo by Carol Woods for the Evening Tribune)

Audrey Geisel was as much a champion of imagination and the written word as her husband, the one, the only, Dr. Seuss, whom she met in San Diego.

She moved to La Jolla in 1960, saw the ocean “and knew I’d stay here forever.” She died at home at age 97 on Wednesday. In between, she wove herself into the very fabric of the city by becoming one of its biggest philanthropists. She donated to the La Jolla Playhouse, the Old Globe Theatre and the San Diego Zoological Society. Her benevolence will be greatly missed.

She understood the appeal and importance of Theodor Geisel’s rhymes — his books have sold more than 650 million copies worldwide — and advised him that he wasn’t just writing them for children, but for generations of adults. She protected his image for decades, fought to keep his images from being drawn into political disputes, gave millions of dollars to warehouse his works at the University of California San Diego in a library that bears his name — their name.

“His name never comes up when you’re talking about the underbelly of the world,” she told the Union-Tribune when Seuss died in 1991. “It is always used when you’re talking about the good, the best of the world.”

The same can be said of Audrey as of Ted: You, too, understood. You were a force for good.